


In sickness and in health

by Morethancupcake



Series: Simple and kind [3]
Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Hospital, Angst with a Happy Ending, Clint and Phil are amazing friends, Established Relationship, Fluff and Angst, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Post Operation Depression, Recovery, Sickness, Tagged mature because of the overall theme
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-14
Updated: 2015-06-14
Packaged: 2018-04-04 10:21:47
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,222
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4133904
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Morethancupcake/pseuds/Morethancupcake
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"He isn't supposed to stand for long, so Bruce helps him to the bed he was sleeping in, and he brushes his thumb on Tony's temple until he falls asleep.</p><p>"I am not ready to die before fifty" Tony writes. " I am not ready to see the man I love clean me up and put me to bed."</p><p>The good doctor tells him he's probably depressed, and Bruce throws half of his desk of the floor, because that's not what he needed to hear."</p>
            </blockquote>





	In sickness and in health

**Author's Note:**

> Prompt : handwritten

Tony gets sick, during the night. 

It's his first night home, after the operation, and he's too weak to move. 

Bruce finds him crying, and he helps him, with soft hands and soft words. He kisses him softly and bathes him, because a few hours of sleep are nothing, nothing compared to the way Tony's long eyelashes kiss his skin, the way he finally relaxes when he smells like soap, and laundry detergent. 

He isn't supposed to stand for long, so Bruce helps him to the bed he was sleeping in, and he brushes his thumb on Tony's temple until he falls asleep.

 

"I am not ready to die before fifty" Tony writes. " I am not ready to see the man I love clean me up and put me to bed."

 

The good doctor tells him he's probably depressed, and Bruce throws half of his desk of the floor, because that's not what he needed to hear.

 

He's weak, when the fever leaves. He's a little too thin, and his goatee his gone. His skin is too dry, and he smiles when Bruce whispers dirty words in the crook of his neck when they finally decide to take the catheter away.

 

The scar is big, ugly. Phil comes to visit, he still has to come and get checked regularly, so they talk. It's good, in a way, Bruce can walk outside, and he tries not to think about the last time he took a real shower.

"He's going to be fine." Clint brings him tea, and a box of something warm, some kind of earthy soup. "His doctors are pretty optimistic, he'll be back in no time."

On the other side of the park, Bruce knows, Phil jokes about them comparing their scars. He jokes about matching tattoos, and friendship bracelets, and Tony smiles, too tired to laugh. Phil will offer to help him bathe, and Tony will accept, and Bruce feels like a monster, but he's glad. He's thankful for their friends.

"It's hard. I know it is. You have a one or two hours to sleep and cry, man." Clint doesn't sugarcoat it, and Bruce burries his face in his hand.

He showers in Tony's bathroom, and he thanks Phil for the clothes he finds on the toilet lid waiting for him. 

Tony is asleep, but he wakes up long enough to kiss him goodbye, and to talk a little with the nurses.

 

Bruce sleeps, and wakes up to the sound of the kids walking past their house to school. He thinks about the garbage can he needs to put back inside the garage, and he wonders if there's still some challa left for his breakfast. 

Halfway through his first coffee, the cup escapes from his fingers, and he starts to sob.

He forgot.

The drive to the hospoital isn't long, and Tony is sleeping when he arrives. Still when he wakes up, he's crying, and Tony runs his fingers through the curls. He's smiling, and he guides Bruce's face close enough to kiss him.

"I'm glad one of us could, baby."

 

The doctor who's supervising his progress has a crush on Tony, and Bruce makes faces at him when he can't be seen. Tony laughs, it's nothing, it's like a bird, maybe, something fragile, but it's enough for Bruce not to notice the heavy rain outside.

 

On the second try, Bruce sleeps next to him. Tony is tired, and cranky. The morphine pump isn't here anymore to blurr the pain, and he cries. Bruce hold him close, and 

tries to soothes him. He tells him about the house, and the work they still need to do to upgrade their garden. He tells him about work, and about the vegetables he bought, even if he has no idea how to cook them.

"He'll leave." Tony writes. "He'll leave me, when he realizes I'm old and he's not. When he's going to be sick of taking care of an old man."

Bruce kisses his forehead, and tries to forget. 

In the morning, Tony walks to the bathroom, and manages without his help. He sits at the door, ready to move and to take over. He prays. He prays for him not to have to.

 

Tony naps. He naps on their couch, Lucky at his feet, when Clint and Phil come to visit. He naps in the garden when Bruce tries to decide if they're grown up enough to have a vegetable garden. He naps on their bed, Bruce next to him. 

When he wakes up, his eyes are a little brighter, and he jokes about little things. He kisses Bruce and asks him how he's feeling.

He's not ready to talk, he's not ready to believe it's over just yet.

 

Few weeks later, when Tony is dismissed until the next month, and he can walk by himself without help, they decide to go out, and have fun. It's relative, still, Tony doesn't drink, and now he can't eat much. He's tired easily, but they laugh, and they kiss like they used to a lifetime ago, like teenagers in love for the first time. They're whispering in the hallway, lights still out when Tony holds him close, and asks :

"Can you believe it ?"

The first sob is a surprise. It really is. He cries like a little kid. It's loud, and he can feel snot on his face. He's a mess, he can't breathe, and he shakes. Tony holds him, and calls him his warrior. Tony kisses him, and helps him to the shower. They have to tape his bandage, and it's a little too ridiculous for it to be too serious. Tony kisses him, and kisses him again until he's dizzy.

 

He dreams about being a little boy, and running in a garden full of flowers. He dreams of Tony, another little boy, next to him, and he dreams about them picking flowers. He dreams about Tony and his kisses, and it's soft and sweet, and in the morning, because the doctor said it was safe, because Tony moans in his skin and reaches for him, they make love.

The scar is huge, and he traces it when they're both relaxing. Tony comes to bed wearing a shirt, and Bruce will get rid of it, every time. They smile, and they go back to their book.

Outside, it's too late for a vegetable garden, and Bruce just wants lavender everywhere.

 

"I love him. I love him so much. I finally found him, and I can't leave him now. I can't." Tony wrote on the last page of the diary he was supposed to keep.

Bruce reads it a Sunday afternoon, the diary left on his pillow. He traces the words, like he traces the scar, and the lines on his husband's face. 

Tony is downstairs, playing with Phil at something only the two of them understand. 

 

"Are you coming down, or what ?" Clint still smells like the sunblock they had to use, and he's finally back from their bathroom with the aloe they needed, all a little red, after a day running in the sand and playing like kids they never were, really.

"I am." 

He smiles, and put the diary back on their bed.

 

Tony shouts, something about winning again, and he lifts him into his arms to kiss him.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading it ! You can find this story (and me) on tumblr !
> 
>  http://iwanttopizzamanyou.tumblr.com/post/121528790079/in-sickness-and-in-health
> 
> Sciencebros week has been amazing, and I'm really happy I've been able to be part of it. 
> 
> Kudos, comments and likes make me really, really happy.


End file.
